Psynergy and Proxians
by Firedjinn
Summary: (AU) Five high-schoolers play one very weird Dungeons-and-Dragons-esque campaign. Much improvisation and hilarity ensues. (May be on hiatus until I've got more material.)
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own Golden Sun; it is property of Camelot and Nintendo. I also lay no claim to the Dungeons and Dragons tabletop RPGs and their various derivatives. A further disclaimer can be found on my profile page. This is just a weird idea blossoming into something progressively weirder._

 _Much thanks to CreationsGoneAwry for betareading! :)_

* * *

As far as Isaac was concerned, the trouble had started a long, long time ago. Long before the great Dungeon-Master shuffle, long before the infamous game of let's-improvise-half-a-continent, long before he had even gotten it into his head that it would be a _great_ idea to try picking up where they all left off three years ago in an old tabletop game. It had all begun the first time they played, and there was nothing that he could change about it. Their fates were set in stone.

They were actually going to finish this damn thing.

Five teens sat around the table. Felix, the dungeon master, slouched behind his screen and waited for someone to make a move. Battle music blared from the tinny speakers on his phone. Jenna and Garet both looked pretty impatient - ready to start - and Ivan was still fiddling around with his spellbook trying to work out what would be best to start off with. Isaac cleared his throat, picked up a die, and rolled.

"Aaaaand... that's a natural one."

* * *

The game had begun three years ago, back when it was just four of them. They were in middle school, and tabletop RPGs had been an oddly fascinating concept. Character creation was but means to an end, and they regularly lost track of which dice were which and what rolls were made when. However, that was not what led to their previous failure.

What had was letting Jenna play the Dungeon Master.

Jenna was imaginative, sure, and skilled at improvising new events and characters and occasionally even new rules, and was even willing to overlook said rules for the sake of a good story... but everyone in their group agreed that her work in that role had been a disaster all the same. While she could tell a good story, it wasn't always one that helped the players, and in the very first hour of the campaign she had managed to destroy half the heroes' hometown, kill off a player character (albeit Felix's character, who had been knocked downriver by a boulder after Felix left the table) and completely derailed the intended plot for the entire campaign.

After that one frustrating night of playing, they had tossed the whole set - notes and character sheets and everything - back into the original box, shoved it into a dusty corner of the hall closet, and forgotten about it. Isaac's family had moved away not long later, after his father died in a landslide. His mother, Dora, didn't want to live anywhere near where her husband had died, and so they left for Vault. But grief does not last forever.

About six months ago, Isaac and his mother had moved back to Vale. In the unpacking, an old game had been uncovered and hidden away in a young man's bedroom, where he pulled out notes and tried to remember what they'd been doing with it all that time ago. He'd called his old friends, hoping to arrange a reunion, and in a spur-of-the-moment decision, he'd suggested they give the game another try.

It had been so long since he'd had a chance to see his friends, and Isaac found himself unusually excited about getting together again. He wondered if Jenna and Garet were still so short of temper, or if Felix was still so quiet. Probably. Those things didn't seem like they would change much, even after this long.

* * *

The Vale High School Library was actually pretty impressive for a school library in such a small town, but it was still a familiar sight to Isaac, and he found it comforting. Even if Vale itself had changed a bit since he left, this place was still more or less the same. It still had the same maze of bookcases, and grimy half-lit windows at the ceiling, even the same wooden table pushed against one wall and rarely used. Hell, it might have even had the same librarian.

An elderly man with a birdlike crest of flyaway white hair and a pair of small, round glasses perched on his nose popped up from behind a low bookcase. His smile was unfamiliar, and just a bit too friendly.

"Hello there, young man!" The new librarian waved from amidst the sea of shelves, and began making his way over to Isaac. "You must be the new student I've been told about. Now, how might I help you?"

"I don't actually-" Isaac began, but the librarian kept going.

"I know that with such a small school, one might not expect such a grand and magnificent library like ours, but don't worry - I know my way around the dewey decimal system!" He grabbed Isaac's wrist and began to pull him toward the older corner of the reference section. The old man's grip was surprisingly strong.

"I know where-" Isaac began, before being cut off once again.

"It's all right, no need to even tell me! I can tell you must be looking for... hm..." He trailed off, peering closer at a particular dusty tome.

"Kraden," said a voice from behind. "Mind if we use the table for... oh, hey, Isaac. Ready to play?"

Isaac turned to see Felix nodding and greeting them both before dropping a heavy backpack onto one of the scattered folding chairs. "Kraden, that's Isaac. I think I mentioned him once or twice? He used to go here."

Kraden was silent for a moment. Then the stream of chatter resumed. "Er... sorry about that. Terribly sorry, in fact! I hadn't realized you used to go here, although I suppose going here in previous years is not the same as knowing one's way around the school library and it is still a bit of a labyrinth for those who do not regularly delve into the depths of knowledge within... nonetheless, there is still..."

Isaac tuned out the librarian's ramblings and returned his attention to Felix.

"Where's Jenna? Is she not coming after all?" he asked. The two of them had been nearly inseparable in the past, and that didn't appear to have changed in Isaac's years away.

Felix smiled slightly. "On her way."

"Meaning...?"

"On her way."

Isaac suspected that was all he would get out of his old friend for now.

Just then, Jenna burst into the library. Her excitable demeanor and vibrant auburn hair felt at odds with the quiet and tranquil splendor of the library, and her shoulder-bag clattered loudly as she dragged it along behind her. "Garet," she called behind her, "hurry up, you slowpoke! At this rate, we'll be done with the whole campaign before you get here!"

"Please keep your voice down in the library," Kraden told her, almost absentmindedly. "Students are trying to study."

Jenna looked around and shrugged. "I don't see anyone studying in here," she commented, but she lowered her voice all the same.

They all waited a few minutes for Garet to make his way down the stairs. Felix began setting up a paper screen and folding chairs, and Isaac carefully pulled the box containing the game documents out of his messenger bag. The cardboard box held all the parts they needed to really play the game - the old DM's notes from Jenna (or what little she had written down, anyway) interspersed with illegible old character sheets and the campaign's original guide, a slim paperback volume with nicked and battered pages and a faded cover bearing the image of a yellow stylized sun above the words "Psynergy and Proxians." Jenna hummed a cheerful tune as she cleared away research books and forgotten erasers, then grabbed a handful of dice and dumped them out onto the table. Kraden looked like he wanted to say something about the noise, but held his tongue.

Finally, Garet stumbled down the last few steps, lugging a massive backpack along behind him. He straightened up a bit and waved. "Hi, guys! Don't start without me, 'kay?"

"Don't worry, we won't," Jenna said with a laugh. "Not yet, anyway!"

"What do you even _have_ in there?" Isaac asked. The backpack was almost bursting at the seams in places, and took a surprising amount of energy to move, even for someone Garet's size. Isaac had never known him to be the studious sort either, so he doubted it was full of books or three-ringed binders.

"Snacks," Garet grunted in response, hefting the bag over to the side of the table and unzipping the top to reveal a top layer of plastic packages of onion rings and crackers. "I've got funyuns, cheetos, regular potato chips, those weird spicy sesame things Jenna likes, a banana, jelly beans, tortilla chips, nine-layer dip, I dunno what else, and that's just the main pocket."

Felix rolled his eyes. Jenna squeaked in glee and began rummaging through the bag, standing up a moment later with a triumphant grin and a bag of something covered in colorful japanese characters and doe-eyed cartoon chili peppers.

Isaac picked out a smaller bag of potato chips and tore it open, relishing the salty smell for a moment before setting it to one side on the table. Garet and Jenna both took their places at the table.

"Right," Isaac began, passing the DM's notes and guide over to Felix. "I didn't look at the rulebook much at all, and I tried not to spoil anything. So..."

Felix opened the small book and stared at it for a moment, brow furrowed. "Isaac?"

"Yeah?"

"You do realize there's no character creation guide in here, right?"

"Wait... what?" Isaac got up and stepped around the corner of the table, trying to get a good look at the table of contents of Felix's shoulder. "You can't be serious."

Felix closed the book and elbowed Isaac away. "Nope. Nothing."

"Well, now what?" Garet folded his arms across his chest, grumbling.

Jenna knocked a few dice off of the table with a frustrated sweep of her hand. "All this way for nothing?! I can't believe it!"

Felix leaned down to retrieve the dice, muttering something about missing notes. The moment his focus left the table, Jenna's hand darted out and she snatched up the guidebook, holding it close to her chest. Felix tried to stand up to stop her, and everyone else heard the _thud_ of a head meeting solid wood, followed by several creative and thankfully muffled curses.

"Let me see..." she began, flipping the book open. "Well, it's not that bad!"

"We're _not_ using those!" Felix objected from under the table.

"I liked them!" Jenna shot back.

"What are you guys even arguing over?" Garet leaned over, trying to get a glimpse of the notes. After a few unsuccessful attempts, he popped open a bag of onion rings and began munching as he waited.

Jenna grinned. "There isn't a character creation guide, but we still have our old character sheets, and notes on what happens at new levels."

"Oh, cool," Garet mumbled around a mouthful of onion. Felix reclaimed his seat and deposited the handful of dice back onto the table, rubbing his head.

Jenna passed out the smudged, wrinkly papers bearing their characters and backstories. The pages were crumpled and a bit grubby, but that wasn't too bad. Isaac stared down at the faded, barely legible scrawl in pencil and groaned.

 _Of course_ he was the Lawful Good Paladin.

* * *

 _Whee! I'm actually writing this! I don't know how fast or regular the updates will be (probably neither), but I hope to continue it soon. Thank you for reading, and please review!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Had to do some reading up on the Pathfinder system! 0_0 It took way too long to decide whether I was using 5e or 3.5e... Anyway, I don't own Golden Sun or Dungeons and Dragons. Also, just going to say that from here on out you may see a lot of RPG jargon, so it might not all make sense if you aren't familiar with some of those terms._

 _Also, genre-savvy players make everything better or worse depending on the DM._

 _Thank you to CreationsGoneAwry for betareading, and to Leonitees, Cryptographic DeLurk, and Aliemma for reviewing!_

* * *

"All right... has everyone got their character sheets?" Jenna glanced over her own character sheet with just a hint of smugness. She had chosen well in the past. Her character was a Chaotic Neutral Sorcerer, with a special affinity for fire-based spells taken from some variant rules (she had gotten away with it since she was DM at the time), whom she had dubbed "Jasmine." Even with just basic equipment she thought she looked pretty badass. The only problem was that it took her close to ten minutes just to make sense of all the smeared pencil notations on both the character sheet and her own campaign notes. Not that she minded.

Fourteen-year-old-Jenna's handwriting had been less than stellar, but it may as well have been written with a typewriter when compared to Isaac's and Garet's. The only one of the four who was even partially spared from the incomprehensible scrawl was Felix, who had apparently made a point of writing his in blocky ink lettering that had barely faded at all. The lack of dense notation helped, too.

Jenna stole a look at Isaac and Garet's characters when she thought they weren't watching, and skimmed through what she could. Garet had chosen playing as a Chaotic Good Barbarian by the name of Gerald (which had always baffled and amused her - who names the Barbarian Gerald?), armed with a shortsword and not much else. Isaac would be playing as Robin, a Lawful Good Paladin, though he didn't appear to have decided on a specific oath yet.

She already knew Felix's character: a Druid, Neutral Good. The character, Garcia, had technically died in the storm at the very start of her campaign. The other players had blamed her for it - and she figured they were probably right, in the end. She could have chosen to fudge the roll of the dice and pretend the boulder hit somewhere else. She could have decided it killed some random NPC instead... but she didn't.

The guidebook had suggested to make the boulder a danger to the players as well as just NPCs, and she'd been so frustrated with their failures - first nobody knowing how to get to the plaza, then Garcia actually falling into the damn river like an idiot, and finally the bunch of them running around like headless chickens because none of them had anything _useful_ like a rope or even a decently long stick to pull him out with - that she decided to let them taste the fruits of their idiocy by actually letting the boulder hit them. At the time, she thought they deserved it. Now, however, it seemed frustrating and childish.

Felix grabbed the guidebook from the table as he scooted back into his seat, flipping it open to the first few pages again. "Right," he began. "So... start over, or resume?"

"Maybe we should vote on it," Isaac suggested. "Anyone else have any ideas?"

Garet scowled. "What's the point in starting where we left off? Felix's character _died._ " He shot a meaningful glare at Jenna here. "And nobody even knows what's going on there. I say we start over with Felix as the dungeon master."

"But we've already played out the entire beginning!" Jenna protested. "I know what happens, and it'll just be boring!"

Isaac glanced around at the rest of the group. "I'm... actually sort of with Jenna on that. I mean, we had a pretty weird version of the story, but it seems less interesting to just start over. We could still do something with what we have, right?"

"And let her ruin it again?!" Garet scowled, shoving his character sheet to one side.

"I... um," Felix started.

Garet looked up. " _What?_ " he growled.

Felix seemed to suddenly find the wooden grain of the tabletop incredibly interesting. He said nothing for a moment, then began again. "I have an idea," he said, "about what to do for the story. I could DM with a new campaign. It'd take a while to make, but..."

Jenna sighed. "Yeah, but what now?"

"We could always do some kind of time-skip," suggested Isaac. Everyone turned to look at him. "What?" he asked. "We could."

"I think he might have a good idea," Jenna said. "What if we do that..." Garet groaned, and she glared at him. " _And_ have Felix be the dungeon master?"

"Wait, you're serious?" Felix asked. "I mean... I guess I could."

Isaac shrugged. "Hey, if it works..."

"So it's decided then?" Jenna asked. "All in favor?"

"Sounds good," Isaac replied.

Felix nodded. "I'll do it."

Garet paused for a moment, eyes flicking around to all of them. "Fine," he muttered. "I'll go with it, I guess." He picked the guidebook up off the table and tossed it over to Felix.

Jenna grinned and picked up her own character sheet, passing the DM screen from her bag over to Felix. Perfect.

* * *

Creating a time-skip took longer than expected. Although it had been easy enough to work out how long - a few years did the trick quite well - the world-building necessary to make the plot follow any variety of logic was quite extensive. It had been close to two hours of exasperated waiting and Jenna had found the time to read at least half a pulpy science-fiction novel before Felix finally announced that he had the campaign ready for at least one early session. This seemed good for the time being; Jenna found herself impatient enough as it was and had been about ready to give up for the day and go home.

The four of them crowded around the table on rickety folding chairs, and Felix pulled out his notes and began.

"Everyone remember where we left off?"

"Yeah - duh." Garet waved one hand around as if trying to swat a fly. "Just get on with it!"

"Right, then." Felix sighed, then began reading.

"It has been three years since the disaster of the storm. Since the few deaths, your sleepy hometown of Vale has returned to its usual peaceful existence. The river is shallow and cool, the current gentle, and save for those knocked aside by the occasional tremor from Psynergy practice there have been no more falling boulders. All seems well."

"You," he continued, turning to Jenna, "have finally overcome your grief and begun to move on. Jasmine misses her brother terribly, but has accepted that he isn't coming back. Despite weeks of searching after the storm, no bodies were found for burial, but death seems a foregone conclusion. What else could have happened?"

"He's totally alive, isn't he?" Isaac guessed. "No body? Of course."

Felix glared across the table at him, and Jenna stifled a giggle. "Not _telling_ you."

"Anyway," he added, "it is an ordinary day.

"Your mentor, the old sage Sclater, has arranged to take you up into the Sol Sanctum today as part of your lessons from him.

"You begin at Isaac's house, where he is busy... um..." Felix paused. "Patching the roof or something, I dunno."

"Sure," Isaac replied. "Can I just cheat and use a Mage Hand spell instead?"

"It's _psynergy_ , specifically the..." There was a brief silence as Felix glance over Isaac's character sheet. "...'move' psynergy."

"Can I, though?" Isaac asked.

Felix nodded. "Um... yeah. Go ahead."

A single die skittered across the table, and after a quick inspection, determined the spell a success. Jenna watched as Isaac and Felix began to play out a dialogue between Robin and his mother.

"She shakes her head and sighs," Felix narrated. "'You're as stubborn as your father!' she says."

"I just kinda nod. I... don't really remember who Robin's dad is," Isaac admitted.

"Kyle, remember!" Jenna rolled her eyes. "It was in the notes! Your dad is Kyle, and he is supposed to have died along with Garcia and the others in the storm."

"Okaaay..." He shrugged. "Do you have to use my parents' real names?"

"Just go with it." Felix sighed.

"Sure, fine."

At this point, Garet butted in. "So where am I?"

"You're coming, soon," Jenna answered. She turned to Felix, and asked the exact same question to him.

"Well," Felix responded. Jenna noticed he had not yet looked up from his notes. "You... are near the house. Let's say... ten feet from it. Isaac is on the roof though."

"And there's a ladder?"

Felix finally set his notes aside. "Yeah."

"Okay, I - er, Jasmine would like to ask 'Robin' if he's done patching that stupid roof!" She also thinks Garet looks silly trying to headbutt that log over there, but comments less on that..." Jenna announced. Garet gave her a look halfway between baffled and offended. "It's called improvising, okay?"

"Look, I get I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but why would I be headbutting logs?" Garet grumbled.

"Anyway," Jenna continued. "Jasmine heads up to the ladder and climbs up to the roof. She tries to get Dora's attention by shouting, 'MAAAAAA'AM!'"

"Roll for chari-?"

"Oh, come on," Jenna interrupted. "I'm yelling right behind her, jeez! How is she _not_ going to notice that?!"

"... Fair enough." Felix cleared his throat. "Hello, Jenna!" Felix's voice took on a high and slightly raspy falsetto for the in-character line, and Garet snorted. Jenna bit her lip until she'd almost drawn blood trying not to react, but it was too much. She collapsed facedown on the table, twitching with uncontrollable laughter. Felix huffed and crossed his arms. "Are you done yet?"

"Right, right."

Felix resumed the role of Dora, and everyone did their best to keep straight faces.

Nobody succeeded.

* * *

Several minutes later, Kraden had returned to tell them all to please be quiet ("Yes, I know there are not currently any other students down here, but it's a library and a matter of principle!") and the laughter had died down as they moved on to another scene. The three adepts - Robin, Jasmine, and Gerald - had all made their meandering way down in the general direction of the town plaza.

Garet insisted that they improve their weapons, since at that point they had been armed with all of two shoddily crafted shortswords and a stick, while Isaac wanted to stock up on potions and other smaller items. Much unsuccessful haggling ensued, and one overpriced axe later they had all settled down in the creatively named Vale Inn. Felix called it improvising. Jenna called it boring.

They had all gotten a single round of drinks (Felix refused to clarify what kind) and were discussing what to do next when it suddenly dawned on them they had been given a quest. They did, in fact, have a major goal to complete.

They had to go on a field trip. Or rather, they had to find an old sage and get him to take them into the depths of the town's ancient shrine, the Sol Sanctum.

This had not seemed quite so urgent while they were exploring the town in broad daylight, but it seemed they would have to get it done sooner or later. Or at least to speed up the plot.

Felix rolled a few dice, letting them clatter along the length of the table, and listened to the conversation.

"Listen, you guys," Jenna said. "We've got to get going. Sclater will be waiting, and Sol Sanctum is basically the noob cave for this campaign. Our first dungeon!"

"Yeah, but there's a whole town to explore!" Isaac countered. "I don't know what's in the Sanctum, but I never got to explore Vale like this because it wasn't in the original story. This is all new!"

"Hey, I don't know about you two," Garet added, "But I'd like to get the plot rolling. This whole place is probably gonna go up in flames once we enter the Sanctum anyway, so it's not like you'll be finding anything plot-important here."

Felix glanced at the table and dice. He hummed nervously as he collected them back up, examining some table in the guidebook. Jenna watched his eyes go wide as he read it, looking back twice to check he hadn't just imagined whatever he'd read. He leaned over to the three of them. "Hey, guys..."

"What?" Jenna asked.

"So... this guy in a creepy mask is watching you from the corner. Jasmine in particular."

Jenna decided one thing then and there. She _would_ find out what it was, no matter how long and how much energy it might take. To stave off the boredom of wandering Jasmine's hometown, she _would_ find the identity of the insignificant masked man.

"Five bucks says he's Garcia's zombified corpse or something," joked Isaac.

"Shut up," said Felix.

* * *

 _Thank you so very much for reading, and feel free to leave reviews!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Sorry it took so long to write! I don't own Golden Sun or Dungeons and Dragons, yadda yadda yadda.  
_

 _Poor form, Jenna. You don't steal the DM's notes. Seriously. In other news, Proxians are not elves._

 _Thank you Aliemma for reviewing, and much thanks to CreationsGoneAwry for beta-reading! :D_

* * *

Felix stared at the dice in silent shock. He had set up a simple random-encounter table for the inn to spruce it up a bit, hoping that whatever it dictated would keep the players busy for the time being. Amongst the many outcomes was the rare chance for the players to encounter a new plot-relevant NPC. He'd meant it as a joke and nothing more.

He hadn't thought it would actually come up.

It seemed stupid to let it happen, though. They already had a story, with a firmly set plot and carefully calculated twists and turns. Not to mention, as the Dungeon Master, he could always choose to ignore the roll altogether.

As the three adventurers chatted, he weighed the pros and cons of using the strange plot twist. On one hand, it could - no, it would reduce his entire intricately crafted story to literary rubble, damage at least two different character arcs, and probably leave the rest unsalvagable. The only plot-relevant characters who could pull off a chance encounter like this one without killing the entire party (again) were busy minding their own business. If he were to attempt this, he'd need a new secondary character to join the story, which would make it all the more frustrating to keep the plot resembling any sort of coherent sequence. Felix shuddered inside at the gaping holes in the plot dug by such an idiotic course of action.

On the other hand, wasn't this the essence of role-playing games: writing a story with whatever was available, not necessarily knowing where it would lead? Pre-set plots rarely seemed to work in practice, and had proven catastrophic in the past. His players were unpredictable enough as it was, and Isaac had already made enough jokes about Garcia's inexplicable revival...

Of course! Garcia! If he could find an explanation for reviving Garcia, he could make him the mysterious plot-relevant character. A new thread of ideas wove its way through the existing story in his mind, and he marked its path in his notes. Garcia could become one of the antagonists, maybe even a boss later on... yes, this would be perfect. He could use this little chance encounter for all it was worth, with his original concepts and storyline still intact!

"Hey, guys..." he began. It took a few moments for the chatter to die down.

"So... this guy in a creepy mask is watching you from the corner. Jasmine in particular," he said. Jenna gave him a puzzled look, before settling into one of utmost determination.

"Five bucks says it's Garcia's zombified corpse." Isaac grinned, and Felix tried to hide a grin of his own. Oh, if only he knew.

Better dissuade any thoughts in that direction for now, though. It wouldn't be a twist if it wasn't surprising! "Shut up," Felix retorted.

Isaac just sat back and nodded. "Suuure..." he said. Felix fought back a chuckle, twisting it into an unamused glare.

Yes. Perfect.

* * *

After several minutes, Felix was almost absolutely sure that his players were conspiring against him. They whispered amongst themselves once more, and Felix had to lean in across the table to catch more than a few scattered words and phrases. However, flattening oneself across a surface covered in paper and dice to eavesdrop was hardly a subtle way of finding out what was was going on.

Jenna had begun giving him those looks again. They were the sort of expressions she made when she was planning something which would involve copious amounts of fire and chaos. Well, hypothetically. The last time she'd done it was a few weeks prior when she'd tried to paint the neighbor's dog green (long story), so Felix felt rather justified in his worry.

At last, the overlapping murmurs faded. Jenna turned towards him.

"Alright. Does Creepy Mask Guy do anything, or just stare?"

"He just stares," Felix clarified.

She nodded. "Can I stare back?"

"Nothing stopping you."

"I do that, then... and do my best to be intimidating here." She winked and rolled a twenty-sided die. Her character had no training in intimidation, so it was mostly an empty threat, but still...

"It's a four," Isaac reported.

"Which means you don't intimidate much of anything, even with that high charisma score," Felix added. Thank goodness. At least this time the dice were in his favor.

Garet snorted. "So basically, you just sit there growling at him and looking silly."

"Hey, I never said I growled."

"Whatever." He shrugged.

"Hey, let's get back on track," Felix cut in. "You fail to intimidate the masked man with your staring. Now what?"

"I walk up to him and greet him," said Isaac.

Felix paused. He'd have to tread carefully.

He switched to a low, raspy voice. "'Boy... Do you have business with me?' he asks."

"Um... yes? I try to bluff."

Felix set up his dungeon-master screen (an empty manila folder with some notes on the inside) before making the roll. He glanced over the top at the others' impatient fidgeting as the die tumbled from his hands to the tabletop.

He looked down again.

An eleven. He wouldn't have to lie about the roll to stop him from revealing anything yet.

"The guy glares at you. 'Well, I have no business with you! Now scram!' His hand creeps over to the sword at his side."

"Hey, we can take him," Garet suggested. "I mean, it's three to one, and he probably doesn't have any magic or anything." _Crap._

Jenna seemed to agree. "Well, if he wasn't supposed to fight us, he wouldn't have showed up and threatened us like that..." _Crap crap crap._

"He has been stalking us in the inn. But that's not really the best of reasons for fighting someone." Isaac noted. Felix did his best to hide his relief. With any luck, Isaac would play the voice of reason for the group.

"However," Isaac continued, "I don't have to take part in the fight, per se. And if you talk to him and find a better reason to fight him, I have no problem with that." _Crap crap crap crap crap._

Jenna made the I'm-going-to-set-something-on-fire face again. She spun back around in her seat to face Felix. "I snap my fingers and cast a minor flare spell," she said. "Roll for initiative?"

"Uh, wait." He pulled out a blank sheet of paper from his notes and pretended to look it over. "The masked man sees you readying an attack and bolts, heading for the door."

"What about initiative?" She scowled at him.

Felix shook his head."It says here he gets to run before the players start attacking."

"Let me see that," she demanded.

Jenna made a wild grab for the paper, but he yanked it out of her reach. If she saw it, he'd have some explaining to do.

"Hey!" He yelped in surprise as she swatted his hand, knocking the page to the floor.

Felix caught Isaac rolling his eyes as the two of them scrambled around in a chaotic battle for the notes.

"Give it back! It's got other plot stuff in it!" he protested. She swiped under a chair, narrowly missing the crumpled scrap of paper.

"Nothing I haven't seen before," she shot back.

"It's _my_ notes!"

Somehow the paper found its way back into his hands, and she gave one final attempt at stealing it before sitting back in her seat with a grunt. He returned to his spot, set up the DM screen once more (it had been knocked over in the scuffle), and resumed the game.

"Fine," Jenna grumbled. "He gets away. _For now_."

Garet shrugged. "So, should we pursue, or what?"

"I dunno..." Isaac paused, thoughtfully. "If we see him again, we should probably do something. Otherwise, we have more important stuff to do."

* * *

The next few minutes passed uneventfully. The players plodded back uphill, meandering along dirt paths and wooden bridges. They crossed the river once, twice, and finally a third time after several pointless detours. Jenna had Jasmine set a squirrel on fire, and Isaac-as-Robin scolded her for it. Boredom crept into the players. Felix tried to ignore it.

They were almost there.

However, most of the players (Jenna and Garet especially) seemed to lack the attention span to wait.

"You pass some puppies as you cross the bridge and -"

"Puppies?" Jenna squeaked.

"Don't set them on fire," warned Isaac.

"No! Of course not!" She smiled. For once, the expression was felt genuine and warm.

Garet groaned. "Not again."

"Again?" Isaac asked.

"She tends to sidetracked by stuff like this in games," Felix explained. And in real life, he thought to himself. Jenna made a rude gesture at him, but didn't stop smiling.

"So," he added, "are you guys going to keep going, or..."

"Oh! Sorry," said Jenna. "Whoops."

"Can I pick one up?" Garet looked a bit sheepish.

Isaac chuckled. "You want to pick up the cute puppies?"

"Guys, focus," said Felix.

"I pick up a puppy and put it in my bag," said Garet.

"What?" Jenna looked puzzled. "Why? That's hardly a good place for a puppy."

"Hey, it's better than whatever puppy catapult you're probably planning."

"I would _not_!"

"Guys." Felix tried to interrupt, with little success.

"It wouldn't be the first time you've done something like that!"

"Those were a bunch of stuffed toys!" she objected.

"We were cleaning them off the roof for a week!"

"What-" Isaac started to ask something, then appeared to think better of it.

"Guys." Felix stood up.

Jenna's cheeks were bright red now. "I wouldn't do that to real puppies!"

"Yeah, right!"

"Guys!" Felix butted in. "Look, I get that Jenna used to do that stuff a lot, but she's a player now. I can stop her from making a puppy cannon if need be. Meanwhile, I would hope that she doesn't try it in the first place."

Jenna looked smug. "See?"

Garet glowered in her direction.

"Both of you, sit down," he ordered. After a tense pause, they did.

"Gerald picks up the puppy and puts it in his bag. Jasmine and Robin continue toward the sage's cottage."

"Sure," Isaac responded. He slouched a bit in his seat, visibly relieved.

"And all three of you approach the cottage. Together."

Garet slumped a bit over the table. "Yeah, yeah."

"Do you want to play, or not?"

"Sorry."

"Forgiven. You all approach the cottage, and..." He stopped briefly to check his notes. "... you see a pair of colorful strangers hanging about in the bushes."

"Again with the villains?" Isaac asked.

"What makes you assume they're villains?"

"What else are they supposed to be?" Damn genre savvy players.

After an awkward silence, Isaac shrugged. "I guess we should go and confront them or something. Is everyone ready?"

"Almost," said Jenna. She was busy examining her character sheet. "Do I have access to any buffing spells yet? I don't think I finished choosing my spells yet."

"No."

She sighed. "Drat. So we're going in at normal strength?"

"Pretty much."

"I charge in first!" Garet announced.

Isaac cringed. "Can't we just eavesdrop first?"

"Oh, yeah. Never mind, then."

Right. Showtime. "You all stay about thirty feet from the strangers, hiding in the bushes. The strangers are talking amongst themselves, quietly. They appear almost monstrous, with scales and pointed ears." Felix flipped through his notes for descriptions.

"Some kind of elf, maybe?" Isaac guessed.

"Hush. The two are fairly quiet, and it's hard to make out what they're saying."

"I make a wisdom check," Jenna offered.

"How about you all make one and just go by the best one?"

"That works, too."

Felix passed around a d20, and the players made their rolls.

"Why did all three of us use wisdom as our dump stat?" Isaac complained.

"Shut up, I got the best roll anyway," grumbled Garet.

Jenna examined the die. "Well, that's irony for you. Natural twenty."

Felix went back to narrating. "You can hear them whispering about alchemy and stars. They mention Sclater frequently, and discuss how they might use him and his knowledge for their own intentions. You also pick up a few names. One of them is 'Saturos', and the other is 'Menardi.'"

"I relay all that to Jasmine and Robin."

"One of the pair - a fellow in blue armor - turns in the direction of your voice. 'Hey, you,' he says. 'You there! What are you doing?'"

"Battle time?" Jenna asked.

"Battle time," Garet answered.

Oh, for crying out loud.

* * *

 _Yay! Chapter!_

 _Reviews are always welcome, so thank you all for your feedback! :)_


	4. Chapter 4

_Welp. HERE GOES._

 _I don't own GS (that's Camelot) or D &D (Wizards of the Coast.) Thank you to Leontinees for reviewing, and especially to CGA for betareading! _

_Garet and Kraden basically derailed this entire chapter. But I guess it makes good subplot material or something._

* * *

It wasn't that Garet was the kid who went looking for trouble. It was mostly that trouble found Garet.

Well, okay, that wasn't strictly true. Sometimes he sort of did do these things on purpose, in those occasional incidents where he hadn't expected consequences. Hanging around with Jenna probably didn't help. He still regretted helping her with that stuffed animal thing.

Either way, this constant magnetism between Garet and trouble seemed to exist in both real life and games. He had the worst luck when it came to bad match-ups and critical moments. Like a fool, he had once again let luck decide his fate. And once again, it had bitten him in the ass.

Not literally. That would be weird.

Personally, he blamed Felix. There had been no stealth roll, no dice to glare at and no solid rules to enforce his failure. He just forgot to whisper instead of chatting aloud, and Felix (the sneaky bastard) had roleplayed along.

Speaking of Felix, he was probably still talking, wasn't he? Garet tuned back in to his friend's monologue to check in on the action.

"The man stalks over to you three, glowering. He has a mean look to him and an elaborate deadly blade on his belt. Maaaaybe a little out of your league right now."

"Aw, come on," Garet began. "We can take him."

Jenna nodded, almost bouncing in her seat. " _Finally!_ "

"Are you sure?" Isaac looked a bit nervous. Garet chalked it up to three years away from Jenna's brand of crazy, followed by being plunged headfirst back into it again. He did his best to reassure him it would be fine... ish.

"Hey, we'll be fine, really! Worst-case scenario, we have to all run away and fight him again a couple levels later or something."

"Right, guys," Jenna interrupted. "We don't have any buffs, so we're just going to need to use the element of surprise here, 'kay?"

Garet grinned. Showtime.

"The other stranger steps forward, her pointy ears twitching in rage.`Were you... _eavesdropping_ on us?!'"

"Um... no?" Garet answered. An awkward pause surrounded the table.

"Well, you tell him, then," he hissed at Jenna. " _You've_ got the good charisma score. Keep 'em from suspecting us until we sneak attack!"

"It's not a sneak attack if you mention it in front of them," Isaac pointed out.

"I said it out-of-game!" Garet protested. He wasn't going to be caught by the same mistake twice!

"It's fine," said Jenna. "Jasmine stands up straight and glares at him. 'Of course not,' she says."

Everyone heard the sounds of dice bouncing around behind the DM screen. Felix nodded.

"Your bluff check... works. Just barely. She shrugs and huffs out a frustrated sigh. 'I guess I should take you at your word,' she mutters."

Garet rolled his eyes. "Hey, _you_ were the ones sneaking around!"

"The foreign man bristles at your accusation. 'Sneaking - who are _you_ to accuse _me_ of-' he begins. The woman interrupts him, though. 'So, Sclater's appointment was with you?' she asks." Felix turned to Jenna for an answer.

Jenna didn't miss a beat. "Yes, it was! We're here to meet him right now," she replied.

"'And this... appointment. It is important enough to drive us away?' the man asks you with a sneer."

"Yep, I think so!"

Felix stood up, seemingly doing his best to look in character. "He snorts." He acted out a dramatic snort. "'Hmmph! If your little errand is more important than ours, fine. Go...'"

Across the table, Isaac bit back a grin. Garet could hear Jenna stifling a giggle as well.

"Guys, please don't. I'm trying, okay?" Felix gave them all a look, and for once Jenna quieted down. "He gestures towards a cottage on the hill above you. The path you've been following leads up a set of steps carved into the hillside, like the ones leading to and from the southern plaza."

"You're letting us go?" Jenna asked. "I mean, Jasmine says that, too."

"The woman seems unsure. 'Saturos, why are we just letting them go?' she asks her partner. He shakes his head. 'We have no reason to delay these children any further, Menardi.'"

"This seems fishy..." Jenna murmured.

Garet felt the same. Was Felix really just going to let them go with no fight? Why? Was he trying to give them a chance at a sneak attack?

"Let's go, then," Isaac said. "Robin heads uphill, beckoning you two to follow."

Of course he did. If they weren't an obvious enemy, Isaac's character wouldn't be able to join the fight for alignment reasons. A sudden thought flashed through his head - had that been what Felix meant to do?

Jenna announced her character to be following along, and Garet realized he was the last one to figure that out. Felix didn't want them to fight the guy (for whatever reason) and was trying to keep their healer out of the battle to cripple the rest of them. But why?

"Come on, Ga- _Gerald_ , we're going!" Jenna tapped him on the shoulder. "Hello? Anyone home?"

He pushed her off. "Hey, I was just thinking, okay?"

"All right.."

"At the top of the hill, you see an elderly man with messy white hair and glasses pacing in front of the cottage door. He looks rather distressed, and keeps muttering to himself."

"Okay..." Isaac began. "... I go up and greet him."

"Wait, wait," Jenna whispered. "Eavesdrop first, chat later!"

Isaac sighed. "Ugh, fine." A quick round of perception checks had better luck than the previous ones, and all three of them were able to hear the wise old geezer loud and clear.

Felix cleared his throat. "You hear a great deal of rambling about alchemy and elements... there's something important in Mt. Aleph, and he's worried that the foreigners will try to get at it. They know more than they should, and more than even he knows, and plan to use it for some unknown plot involving something called the Elemental Stars."

"Now can we approach him?" Isaac asked.

Jenna was silent for a moment, waiting for Felix to continue his narration. When he didn't answer, she nodded. "Yeah, sure."

"Robin walks up to the old sage Sclater and greets him," Isaac said.

 _Sclater_. So that was the guy's name. Garet had forgotten it in all the tension with what were obviously the villains-to-be. Not that it was particularly important or anything.

"The sage turns and seems to notice you for the first time," Felix responded. "He quickly masks a look of surprise and worry before returning the greeting."

"Ah! Isaac!" Everyone looked up. Kraden had reappeared behind them at the table, holding a massive reference book. He wheeled a cart of similarly huge books along behind him.

Isaac cringed. "Um, hi, Kraden. What are all those books for?"

"I said I'd help find the book you needed, now didn't I?" The scholarly old man looked quite pleased with himself. "It took a little while, and a bit of rifling through your backpack - sorry about that - but I found several reference books for you and the others that should be of great assistance in your studies and homework assignments this year!"

"Kraden... er... I don't..."

"Don't what? Need the full version? Don't worry, I am fairly certain there's an abridged copy of the 'Guide to Alphean Mythology' around here somewhere, and the Short History of Tolbi is actually several volumes, so you can take out at a time-"

"No, I mean... I don't need the books. It's okay. We've barely even started classes this year, and..." This was going nowhere. Kraden would never shut up, and Isaac was being too polite here to actually refuse. Did he have to do everything?

"What he means is he doesn't want them!" Garet turned around in his seat to face the old man as he spoke.

"Oh." Kraden seemed to shrink down a full inch or so, the light in his eyes dimming. "I... alright. I suppose you can just... come another time..." He shuffled over to his cart, replacing the hefty history volume with a muffled thump atop the stack. He rolled the cart back towards the reference section, the wheels squeaking softly.

Once he was out of earshot, Garet realized that for the first time since they'd gotten here the library was completely silent. Jenna wasn't humming, Isaac wasn't rocking in his seat, nobody was rolling any dice.

He turned back around, and the others glared at him. "What?" he said. "He wasn't going to leave if Isaac just kept going on like that."

No answer. After a moment, Felix sighed and put his face in his hands. "Garet."

"What?" he repeated. "I thought-"

"You didn't have to be like that!" Jenna snapped. "Now he's all gloomy and sad 'cause you blew him off!"

"He left, didn't he?"

Isaac shot him a death-glare. "I was handling it just fine! You didn't need to say crap like that!"

"You've never been on the receiving end of his lectures!"

"I've dealt with worse from those professors at Vault High," he retorted.

He couldn't believe it! Isaac was actually getting _that_ involved in this stupid argument? "Oh, yeah! So you think you know what you're doing just because you went to another school!" Garet snarled.

"What? That's not got anything to do with-"

"Look, I was trying to do you a favor, okay! A favor!"

"Garet, stop." Jenna grabbed his wrist, stopping him from slamming the table. "You know what? The rest of us _all_ agree that you shouldn't have been so rude to Kraden. But we're kinda in the middle of something here, and this is _not_ a great time to start whaling on Isaac for whatever the hell you have against him."

"Yeah," added Isaac. "What she said."

Garet groaned. They were probably right. His friends usually were. "Ughhhh. I... you know what? Fine. I'll apologize to him later or something. Can we just... forget this? And, y'know, get on with the game?"

Jenna cleared her throat, but said nothing. Isaac slumped in his seat a little, eyes on the table. Oh, right _. Isaac._

"Also... Isaac... I'm sorry I yelled at you. That wasn't a great idea," he continued. "Again, sorry about that."

 _There. That should do it._

Isaac sat up a little. "... Thanks."

Well, that could have gone better. The realization of what he'd done hit him like a falling piano, and it wasn't pleasant. Crap. He hadn't thought Isaac would actually be that upset about it. Not to mention old Kraden... dammit, why did everything have to be so idiotic in hindsight!

Jenna picked up a pencil off the table and began scribbling something on a sticky note. Garet tried to get a look over her shoulder, but she swatted him aside.

Felix mumbled something to himself and shuffled some papers around behind the screen before speaking up. "So. Ready to resume?"

"I guess," Garet said. Isaac shrugged. Jenna was too busy jotting something down to answer. She finally finished, passing the note to Felix before chiming in. "Yeah, let's get going again!"

They all waited for Felix to be done with whatever he was doing behind the screen. After a short pause, he began narrating again.

"The old scholar smiles warmly at your party, but seems a bit anxious. 'I take it you're ready to start heading up to Mt. Aleph?' he asks Robin."

Garet didn't need to be a genius of perception to catch the way Felix spoke in the role. He sounded just like Kraden.

"Um, yes..." Isaac's reply was barely audible, even in the relative quiet of the library.

"'Well then,'" Felix continued in Kraden/Sclater's voice. "'I... er...'"

"Jasmine mentions that it looks like something's bothering him," Jenna declared.

"The sage is quiet for a moment. '... Yes,' he admits. 'There is something bothering me.'"

Garet would bet his last candy bar it had something to do with those guys. "It's those two out there in the grass, right? The... dragon-elfs? Saturn and whatsherface?"

"'Are they still out there?' he asks. 'They're terribly persistent. But what do you mean by, and I quote, 'Saturn and whatsherface'?'"

"Umm... you know..."

"Saturos and Menardi?" Jenna offered. Isaac said nothing, and she continued. "Did they want something from you, Sclater?"

"'That seems to be the case,' Sclater says."

At last, Isaac rejoined the conversation."Seems to be?"

"'They spoke of both Mt. Aleph and Sol Sanctum as if they had seen them with their own eyes...' he muses. 'Isn't that odd?'"

"Finally," Jenna burst out. " _Plot!_ "

* * *

 _Well, I hope that's decent. I originally meant for them to reach the Sol Sanctum by now, but it's funny how things get away from you._

 _Please, feel free to leave reviews! Feedback is great!_


	5. Chapter 5

_I'm sorry this took so long, with so little to show for it. :( I hope it speeds up soon, but I have about six different things I'm writing simultaneously and it all gets kinda weird._

 _My hand slipped for about two chapters. I really didn't start this as a drama thing, I swear._

 _Much thanks to CGA for betareading! :)_

* * *

Isaac was not speaking to Garet. Nope. No. Nada. Never. Ever.

Something told him this was incredibly childish, but he didn't care. He was still stinging from that comment about the schools. About moving.

It wasn't his idea to move! His _mom_ had moved, and out of grief. Just because he hadn't been with them at the same school for the last three years didn't mean he knew better or wasn't like them anymore or _anything_ , it just meant he'd been somewhere else!

But maybe Garet was at least a little bit right. Things were different.

Isaac sighed inwardly as he picked up a die, playing with it in one hand as he listened to Felix.

"The old sage tells you more about the strangers quite willingly. He regales you with tales of how the village elders had forbidden him from entering the heart of the hidden shrine in the mountain above - the Sol Sanctum - and the rumors that old texts only hinted at, which the foreigners had confirmed.

"He fears they might be thieves, either meaning to steal from the sanctum or perhaps having already robbed it, and tells you as much. The sage also asks if you would be willing to help him enter the forbidden inner sanctum to investigate - just a quick peek to see if his suspicions were right and they really _had_ been inside."

Jenna nodded. "Okay, so basically our first major quest. Do the thing, stop the thieves, get some loot from the shrine-"

"Yeah, sure-" Isaac caught a raised eyebrow from Felix, who coughed.

"Aren't you supposed to be the paladin?"

Oh crap, right. He still had to keep in character, didn't he? "I mean- we can't desecrate the shrine. I'm supposed to be lawful good!"

"So we drag you along, and you blame us," Jenna reasoned.

Isaac opened his mouth, then shut it again. Best to leave well enough alone. He might have had an obligation to role-playing, but he wouldn't push it any farther than he had to.

"Seems solid," he replied. Felix grunted in annoyance, but said nothing.

"Good," said Jenna, "because I'd be doing that either way."

"Wait, that doesn't make any sense," Garet pointed out. "If you need the elders to fix this, why not get them to back you up so you can get extra supplies and stuff first?"

Felix shook his head. "They won't let you, remember?! They already refused Sclater - why would they let you guys in along with him?"

"Let's keep it a secret, then," Jenna suggested. "Don't tell the elders unless it's insanely urgent and you all need backup. How's that sound, _Isaac_?"

Isaac didn't overlook how she emphasized his name, turning her back on Garet as she did.

"Um... yeah. Sure."

Garet growled something rude. Isaac ignored him.

The adventure continued in tense, uncomfortable silence punctuated solely by the occasional narration. The party made their way up through the town again, dodging a pathetic lone monk whose idea of guarding a sanctum involved pacing back and forth from the entrance to the much smaller Vale Sanctum.

Isaac still wasn't sure what that monk was guarding against back behind the building, since the whole area was practically unreachable, but it did leave the main entrance conveniently unprotected in the meantime. Maybe too conveniently.

He glanced at Jenna. "So, ideas?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She rolled her eyes. "Garet has Gerald use his Barbarian trap-sense skill thing to check for traps. If he dies, we're down a character. If not, we just head in."

"Hey," Garet objected, "that's my character you're talking about. I'm not risking him just so you can check for traps! That entrance is barely even guarded."

"And that's why I'm suspicious," Jenna butted in. "Why would they so utterly fail to protect their greatest treasures? There's got to be something more to it."

"What if the door is just locked or something?"

"Then that's another measure against thieves. I still say someone should check for traps!"

"Ugh, fine." The pair glared at each other. Isaac said nothing.

Felix picked up a die. "You guys know that's the wrong edition, right?"

"What?" Jenna asked.

"We're using fifth edition, remember. No trap-sense."

"You've got to be kidding me," Jenna muttered with a scowl.

Garet sighed in undeserved relief. "Well, that plan's a bust then. Why doesn't Jasmine just throw a fireball at it, anyway?"

"We don't know if a fireball would set any traps off."

This was getting ridiculous.

"Guys," Isaac began.

"Better than sending in a player as a guinea pig!"

"Hey, I said _if_ he dies, not _when_! Your hit points are insanely-"

Isaac started again. "Guys-"

"And you'd risk one of your biggest assets for that?"

"Biggest asshole, more like."

" _Guys!_ " Isaac shouted, a bit louder than he meant to. Jenna and Garet fell silent, frozen in place - Garet's hands gripping the table like the bars on a rollercoaster, and Jenna practically crouching on top of her chair.

"This is stupid, okay?" He made a point of facing more towards Jenna than Garet. He still couldn't quite talk with Garet - not then, not there.

Jenna nodded. "Yes. How exactly could fireballs trigger a tripwire?"

"No, that's not what I mean!" Isaac sighed, dropping his head into his hands. "I mean... you two arguing. All of us arguing. It's just stupid."

"Yeah, I'm with you on that, Isaac," Garet added. "This is just stupi-"

"No! You're all - we're all being stupid here!" Isaac snapped. Well, no avoiding talking to Garet now. "Look, I'm still pissed, too. I... I can't even believe I'm even talking to you, for what that's worth. But this was just supposed to be a stupid game, and then you had to start acting like a douche, and Jenna kept fighting you and making it worse, and Felix hasn't even _tried_ to do anything about it, and here I am... just ranting at all of you, I guess."

"I got this game out because I thought it would be like middle school again. With all the old stuff we used to do, y'know? But all we ended up doing was being a bunch of asses."

Isaac sighed. "I'm done with this." He pulled himself up out of the chair, folding up his character sheet. "I'm just... done with this dumb game."

He picked up Jenna's character sheet. She didn't seem to notice at first, too distracted by alternating currents of rage and tears. "Hey, wait," she began, "we're still playing-"

"Yeah? Well you're down a player now."

Garet grabbed his character sheet, snatching it away from Isaac before he could put it away as well. "Hey! Just because you don't want to play doesn't mean you get to be a jerk about it!"

"Fine. Go play your game without me."

With that, Isaac stalked out of the library, grabbing his messenger bag and stuffing the character sheet inside.

The walk out seemed impossibly long, with far more rows of bookcases than he remembered or had imagined, and the whole way he kept secretly expecting someone to put in their two cents, to try and drag him back. He'd find some good comeback to that, and head out, or maybe there would be some short but satisfying bout between him and Garet, but nothing happened. Nobody spoke.

He left the room in a dead silence Kraden would have been proud of. The only faintest suggestions of any sound were his own footsteps on the wooden floorboards. He held his breath as he stepped over the threshold, hesitating for half a second as he waited for someone to say something, anything to give him an excuse to come back and make amends.

Silence echoed through the grand room.

Isaac took the stairs as quickly as he could, stepping out into the deserted school hallways. The classrooms were all darkened and locked up in empty, lifeless rows. A single dim fixture overhead blinked on when he flicked the switch by the library door.

He followed the hallways, navigating on three-year-old memories, and eventually the endless pattern of unlit windows and locked-down doors led to the outside. A cool breeze danced through the trees, and the dying lights outside tinted the sky a gentle purple shade. A playground swing squeaked as it shifted in the wind, and Isaac could see the library windows from his spot.

The lights flickered on inside, illuminating the library window with a warm yellow glow. Three shadowy silhouettes moved about inside, chatting. The moments looked slow and forced.

Isaac sat down on the rickety bench in front the main entrance, watching for a few minutes.

That certainly hadn't gone as he planned.

* * *

 _Welcome to 'That One Angsty Chapter Where Everyone Keeps Interrupting Each Other.'_


End file.
